


Favor

by Random_Inked_Thoughts



Series: Dream SMP except Tommy is sad-oh, wait... [2]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Brotherly Affection, Fluff, Gen, I know they aren't canon brothers but they act like brothers here :), Manipulative Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Protective Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), do I have to tag character death if he respawns and is totally fine?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28448940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_Inked_Thoughts/pseuds/Random_Inked_Thoughts
Summary: “Unless of course,” Techno drawls, almost lazily, “you want to call in that favor.”There’s a moment of tension between the two of them, thunder before the lightning. Tommy’s confused cries fall on deaf ears. Dream’s mask gives away nothing, but Techno catches the way his fingers tighten on the hilt of his sword. He raises his head up higher, meeting what he assumes is Dream’s calculating glare with one of his own.Finally, Dream’s lips split into a smile, doubled underneath the mask covering most of his face. His whisper rattles like a snake in the grass. “Yes.”-----What if Dream had decided he wanted to cash in on his favor? Technoblade would have had a choice to make.
Relationships: Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Dream SMP except Tommy is sad-oh, wait... [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083803
Comments: 16
Kudos: 567





	Favor

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! My first fic [Nightmare] was such a huge success (I swear, tysm I would NEVER have believed it) and you all seemed to love it so much that I wrote a sort of sequel to it! Same characters, same dynamic, little later in the storyline. I hope you enjoy it! :)
> 
> PS this is your last warning someone does die in this and there's blood but he respawns so it's not character death per say just... kind of? idk
> 
> oh yeah this is all /rp lol

“Unless of course,” Techno drawls, almost lazily, “you want to call in that favor.” 

There’s a moment of tension between the two of them, thunder before the lightning. Tommy’s confused cries fall on deaf ears. Dream’s mask gives away nothing, but Techno catches the way his fingers tighten on the hilt of his sword. He raises his head up higher, meeting what he assumes is Dream’s calculating glare with one of his own. 

Finally, Dream’s lips split into a smile, doubled underneath the mask covering most of his face. His whisper rattles like a snake in the grass. “Yes.” 

In an instant, fear, white hot and jolting, curls around his bones and _squeezes_ . That must be evident on his face, because Dream fucking _simpers,_ his mocking tone jarring to the core. “Aww, was someone not expecting me to call his bluff?” Dream’s voice has gone all high and sugary sweet. 

“Technoblade?” Tommy half whispers from behind him, confusion and fear crackling in his voice. 

It’s all he can do not to lunge at the green bastard, but Techno lets his lip curl back angrily, baring his sharp teeth at Dream.

Now he’s frowning, unsheathing Nightmare and taking a step closer to the two of them. He drops the sugarcoating. “Step away from Tommy, Technoblade. He’s coming with me.” 

Techno doesn’t need to look behind himself to see the fear in Tommy’s eyes. He doesn’t need to look behind himself to see the little half shake of his head that Tommy is doing, and he certainly doesn’t want to. Growling, he plants his feet a little firmer.

On one end, he owes Dream. He got him and Karl out of a rough spot, and though it pains him to admit it to himself, he probably would have died without Dream’s assistance. He believed in total reciprocity. Dream had cashed his wish in on something simple, so very simple. All he had to do was move aside.

Tommy had broken into his home and stolen his stuff. He’d left his chests a mess of items and he had horrible interior design skills. He purposely tried to get on Techno’s nerves, screamed about the most mundane things, and he did things like build ginormous cobblestone towers after Techno specifically told him not to. He was loud and obnoxious and a little too cocky for someone who had been knocked down as many times as he had. 

This was supposed to be an easy decision. 

But…

On the other hand, and Techno would never admit this in a million years, perhaps, just perhaps, the little twerp had grown on him. He would never tell Dream this and he would _never_ tell Tommy this, but perhaps he felt a little… protective. 

Perhaps he liked having someone to share his near infinite wealth with, even if Tommy took it sometimes without asking. Perhaps he liked the glowing smile on the younger boy’s face as he waved around a crossbow, almost swallowed in one of Techno’s spare cloaks. (Of course he gave Tommy a cloak, he wouldn’t wish frostbite on his worst enemy and dammit it was cold out there. Of course, Tommy wouldn’t have accepted it flat out if he thought it was charity, so Techno had spent a couple of nights stitching the rips and tears in the fabric and then leaving the garment in strategically stealable places around the house until Tommy had snagged it for himself.) 

Perhaps the noise wasn’t as big of a deal as he claimed it was. It could get lonely out in the wintery forest surrounding his tiny hut, and days ticked by where Techno felt like screaming into the wilderness until his throat was hoarse, just to see if there was anyone out there who could hear him. Tommy provided a constant, familiar face who was _happy_ to see him. 

That surprised him more than anything else. There was unrelated fear constantly tugging lightly at the corners of Tommy’s eyes, but his smile was as genuine as anything. He laughed more now on his own too, a new type of wheezing laugh that sounded chillingly like Dream. As worrying as that was, Techno almost preferred it. Tommy’s old laugh had sounded brittle, like it was ready to break at any moment. Tommy was the first person he had heard laugh in a long time.

The voices seemed to like him too. Not that that really made much of a difference, but the voices never really liked anyone except for Phil. However, they had almost nothing but kind words and praises for this tiny child, the few cries for his blood being drowned out among softer and sweeter words. They told him how to comfort him sometimes, when Tommy was shaking like a leaf in the wind and tears rolled down his cheeks like raindrops on a car window. Sometimes he even listened to them. 

Maybe he _had_ grown attached, listening to Tommy’s small whimpers of fear as the teenager tossed and turned in Techno’s spare bed. Maybe he’d wanted to help him, help _someone,_ for the first time in his life. Maybe he’d felt rage about something unrelated to himself. Maybe he liked that he could do something in the long run for Tommy, no matter how helpless he felt in the moment comforting him. Maybe he wanted to learn what would comfort him the most. 

Techno thought back to all those nights he stayed up with Tommy, feeling the other shake in his arms and rubbing his shoulder awkwardly. He thought back to the way Tommy had called out for Dream, relieved and terrified all at once. He thought back to the way the tears traced down the younger boy’s pink cheeks, illuminated in the dying moonlight. He thought about all of this, and his answer became crystal clear again. 

He hadn’t expected Dream to call his bluff. He hadn’t expected to actually hand over Tommy today. And with the not so surprising realization that he didn’t want to, he decided it didn’t matter that Dream had called his bluff. 

“No,” he countered aloud, steeling his nerves and drawing his own sword to match Dream. A brief flicker of surprise flashed across the lower half of the other man’s face, and Techno felt a bit of pride at that. He didn’t like feeling like a pawn. At least when Dream was confused, they were both in the dark. 

“You don’t want to do this.” Dream’s voice had dropped low in warning, matching his tone. _You’d be dumb to oppose me,_ his body language seemed to taunt. _Don’t be dumb. Live another day._

“No,” Techno said again, now pushing Tommy a little further behind him. At some point, the younger boy had gripped onto the edge of his cloak and didn’t want to let go anymore. “I’m pretty sure I want to.” 

“Technoblade it’s fine, I can just go with Dream, really,” Tommy whispered to him, and Techno didn’t miss the way the corners of the blonde boy’s mouth twitched up hopefully as he said that. 

He looked him dead in the eyes, pushing that problem down for another day. “Tommy, I need you to run.” 

“Technoblade…” 

Techno shook his head. “I’ll meet up with you at home, okay?” 

Tommy opened his mouth to respond again, and Dream threw himself at the two of them with an inhuman scream. In a heartbeat, Techno shoved the lanky boy away from him, wincing as he scraped his elbow on the rough stone, raising his sword to meet Dream’s with a deafening _clang._ “Run!” he barked at Tommy, and let relief flood his bones as the blonde boy scrambled to his feet and booked it towards the purple glow of the nether portal. His blood smeared red against the dark ground. 

“You just made a big mistake,” Dream growled at him, pushing their swords harder into one another. 

Techno bit back a remark about how their swords weren’t really designed with this use in mind and how this would impact their durability. He didn’t think Dream wanted to hear about the different types of swords and why they were better designed for different styles of fighting at the moment. Instead, he just grinned a toothy grin and pressed his own sword back against Dream. “Did I really?” he asked the green clad man. 

“Tommy is mine. You owe me a debt. I claimed him, you hand him over.” Dream jumped back, plunging his sword at Techno’s throat in an instant. 

He just barely evaded it, the tip brushing at the ends of his pink hair. _Shit._ There was a reason Dream was able to puppeteer everyone from the sidelines and get away with it. You didn’t get to where he was without some skill to back yourself up. 

“Tommy is his own person,” he shot back, flicking his own sword up to nick at Dream’s forearm. _Wear him down a bit. Give Tommy time to get away._ “He doesn’t belong to you or me or anyone!” 

Dream let out a hiss between a curse and a chuckle. Blood oozed steadily from the cut on his forearm, a darkened and sickly black. Techno lunged again and missed, receiving a cut along his ribcage as thanks. 

“Mmh,” he grunted. Dream had cut him deeper than he had expected. _That’ll leave a scar._

“Give up,” Dream growled. “Give him up!”

Techno looked over. Tommy was at the edge of the portal, knuckles white against the black obsidian. He was screaming something, but Techno couldn’t hear him over the ringing in his ears. 

Dream punched him in the face. _When had he gotten close enough to punch me in the face?_

“Never,” he replied, knowing deep down that he had never meant anything as much as he meant that word in that moment. He gave the green clad man a bloody smile, even as he sunk to his knees. Tommy had gotten far enough away. He could slip through the portal now and be safe. Techno blinked sluggishly down at the wound in his side. He felt lightheaded. “You lose,” he whispered to Dream, a mixture of blood and spit dripping down his cut lip. 

Dream let out a howl of anger, running him through with his sword in one fluid motion. Techno could feel it _squelch_ as it came out of his back, bloodied and burning red. He could feel copper in his mouth. It tasted like victory. 

As he felt himself begin to fade, he glanced over at Tommy, tears streaking down his face and looking like he had half a mind to run back over there and right back to his side. He almost rolled his eyes. That would be just like Tommy, to let all of his hard work go to waste. ‘Go,’ he mouthed at him one more time, and then he felt Dream’s hand grip his jaw tightly and jerk him back away from Tommy. 

“You’ll pay for this,” Dream hissed at him, and Techno could feel him simmering with barely contained anger. 

“No,” he corrected, “You paid for this. We’re even now.”

Dream’s teeth were pointed and bared at him. “You can’t just declare that! We are not even! Don’t even think about-” 

“What did I say?” Techno interrupted him, voice soft and just a little bit smug. “A life for a life. Total reciprocity.”

As he slumped over and everything faded to black, he really hoped Tommy had taken the time to go through the portal. It sure would suck if he had lost his first life for nothing, after all… 

Somewhere behind him, Dream was howling. He couldn’t help but smirk. 

\-----

Techno shot straight up like he’d been electrocuted, gasping as air flooded his lungs once more. He felt like he’d been run through a blender, just did hard drugs, and then ran a marathon while going through withdrawal. Was this what dying had felt like for everyone else? This was the worst. Oh, his head hurt. 

There were two arms around his midsection and a tiny blonde boy sleeping soundly, covered by an oversized blue coat. 

“Tommy?” Technoblade said quietly, and Tommy shot up as well, springing back from him and wringing his hands together nervously. 

“Sorry, sorry! I, um, you’re awake! I didn’t mean to.. I know you’re not a big fan of the whole ‘touching’ thing,” Tommy made air quotes around the word ‘touching,’ “and honestly, I’m not usually either, I just, uh-”

Techno cut him off. “Tommy, you don’t have to apologize to me. Besides, your rambling gets annoying. Please, stop it.” He shot Tommy a small grin, hoping the other boy wouldn’t just take his words at face value. Judging by the tentative smile he got in return, the message had been received. “Are you okay?” He looked him up and down for injuries. 

“Am I _okay-_ am _I_ okay?” Tommy spluttered. “Man, you took a freaking sword to the chest and you’re asking _me_ if _I’m_ okay?

“Yes. How was the nether? Did Dre- did he follow you?” Techno asked him, reaching for his glasses absentmindedly. They were on his nightstand. 

Tommy passed them to him, one of his legs jittering nervously. “No, he didn’t even come through.”

  
Techno nodded at that. “Good. That’s good.” 

Tommy was biting his lip. He seemed like he had something to say but didn’t know how to phrase it.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Techno offered awkwardly, combing his fingers through his hair just to give his hands something to do. 

There was a beat of silence. 

“I’m just really glad you’re okay,” Tommy finally admitted. He wasn’t making eye contact. Uh oh. Seriousness. 

Techno snorted a little. “You’re glad that I’m okay?” 

“It’s not weird, okay, dude?” Tommy continued defensively. “Don’t make it weird!” 

“Not making it weird. I took a sword to the chest, so I wouldn’t exactly say it was my pleasure, but I would certainly do it again if there really was no other option,” Techno replied truthfully. He thought about the jolting pain he had gone through and thought about Tommy enduring it twice. After a moment, he gave the teen a light pat on the knee. _Great. A+ consolation, Techno._

“Really?” Tommy asked, sounding genuinely confused. 

_Absolutely._

“Well, it depends. Are you going to keep eating my gapples?” Techno replied, narrowing his eyes playfully at the teen. 

A shit eating grin was making its way across Tommy’s face. “What’s it to you?” he asked, slipping easily back into the banter and shedding the serious tone gratefully. 

“I have _so much food here!”_ he replied, exasperated. “And so much of it _is not from my limited stash of gapples!”_

Tommy just let out that wheezing laugh again, before sobering up a little. “I will consider your proposition,” he replied, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips. He gave Techno a little not. 

“Oh, c’mere you,” Techno replied through laughter, grabbing him and pulling him into a hug. He didn’t miss the way Tommy stiffened for a moment before easing into it. This was the first time he’d initiated a hug with the blonde haired boy. “You’re a little shit and the worst person I have ever met,” Techno said aloud, not really meaning it.

“You’re not half bad yourself,” Tommy replied. Then, “Thanks. Really.” His voice rang with a sincerity that couldn’t really be expressed properly through words. 

“Of course,” Techno replied with a small smile.

And so what if his vision had gotten a little muddled along the way? So what if somewhere along that line he’d stopped seeing Tommy as that weird kid who got exiled and started seeing him as something akin to an adopted little brother? So what if after all this time, his frozen heart had thawed out just enough to let another person in? Was that really so bad?

  
_No,_ Techno decided, _no it was not._

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you all enjoyed! I'm now left debating whether or not to end this here or write a bit more lol. 
> 
> Everyone in this fandom has been so sweet and just all around amazing and I hope you all are having a wonderful time and have a happy new year! <3


End file.
